A. Field
This invention relates to a method and transport apparatus for transporting flat, rectangular sheet material, in particular sheet-shaped value documents such as bank notes, from a first sheet-material transport path to a second sheet-material transport path, in particular also for changing the transport direction by 90 degrees such that sheet material transported in transverse orientation is transported further in longitudinal orientation, or vice versa. The invention relates furthermore to an apparatus for processing sheet-shaped value documents, in particular bank notes, with such a transport apparatus between first and second transport paths.
B. Related Art
Sheet material is understood here to mean sheets having substantially a rectangular basic form, whereby the corners can be sharp or rounded. The invention can be used for any sheet material, but is in particular suitable for sheet material in the form of sheet-shaped value documents, for example vouchers, coupons, shares and in particular also bank notes.
Transport apparatuses by which sheet material is transferred from a transverse transport to a longitudinal transport, or vice versa, are used for example in bank-note processing apparatuses. Transverse or longitudinal transport is understood here to mean that the sheet material is transported in a transport direction in such a way that the longer side of the sheets is oriented transversely or parallel to the transport direction. Conventional diverting apparatuses, however, are either unsuitable for diverting an uninterrupted bank-note stream in such a way at high throughput speed or are at least comparatively troublesome with regard to space requirements and/or their structural layout.
US 2005/0029168 A1 discloses for example a multimodular bank-note processing apparatus in which the transport apparatus according to the invention described hereinafter is also usable advantageously. Said bank-note processing apparatus is configured as a tabletop device and serves to single the bank notes of a bank-note stack inserted into an input pocket by an operator, to check the singled bank notes with regard to characteristic features by means of suitable measuring and analysis devices, to sort the checked bank notes according to the particular check result, and to stack them in a predetermined output pocket by means of a spiral slot stacker depending on the sorting result. The output pockets are disposed partly side by side and partly one above the other such that all output pockets are optimally reachable by the operator. The bank notes are transported fundamentally in transverse orientation within the modules. However, according to one embodiment the bank notes can be fed in longitudinal orientation. In this case, the bank notes are briefly stopped after singling and then transported further to the right or to the left at right angles in the same plane. However, the mechanism for changing the transport direction of the fed bank notes by 90 degrees from the original longitudinal orientation to the required transverse orientation is not specified.
A disadvantage of said bank-note processing apparatus is that the transport of the bank notes from one module to an adjacent module is effected in transverse transport. The transport path is accordingly wide and space-consuming. This can have an adverse effect on the overall size of the total apparatus. Furthermore, the throughput rate of said bank-note processing apparatus is limited, because when the bank notes are fed in longitudinal orientation and passed on laterally in transverse orientation, the laterally passed-on bank notes must first have completely left the diverting area to avoid collision with the next bank note to be diverted. If the bank-note feed is effected in transverse format, in contrast, a very voluminous transport path formed from guide plates and twisted transport belts is provided in order to rotate the bank notes such that they can be transported further laterally in transverse orientation.
WO 97/33823 discloses an apparatus for changing the transport direction of single sheets as could presumably be used in the bank-note processing apparatus known from US 2005/0029168 A1 in order to divert the singled bank notes fed in longitudinal orientation to the right and to the left by 90 degrees so that they are transported further in transverse orientation. However, said apparatus has the above-mentioned disadvantage that the diverting area must first be cleared before the next bank note can enter the diverting area.
DE 196 32 224 A1 also describes an apparatus for changing the moving direction of sheet material. It is proposed therein to do without diverting rollers in the diverting area as are for example also present in WO 97/33823 A1, and instead extend the transport belts of the feeding and removing transport paths beyond the diverting zone in each case such that the bank note is removed from the diverting zone by means of the transport belt of the removing transport path. By means of a lever and roller system the transport belt of the removing transport path is urged against the removal plane of the diverting area whenever a bank note has been fed to the removal plane. To increase the throughput while avoiding the previously described risk of collision of consecutive bank notes, a special embodiment provides for supplying the consecutive bank notes by means of a gate alternatingly to a first or second removal plane so that the next sheet can already be fed to the second removal plane before the preceding sheet has been completely removed from the first removal plane and passed on. This accordingly requires two removal systems, one for each removal plane. Since two removal systems are provided on each side of the removal planes, i.e. altogether four removal planes, the bank notes can even be diverted in two opposite directions at high throughput. However, providing a plurality of removal systems requires high constructional effort.